Natural dyes for arrows

[DGF]

I'm new to natural dyes, and after seeing some of the cool color combos used on trade arrows I find myself wanting to experiment with dyes on this falls hunting arrows which will be made of cedar.

What have you used with good luck as a natural dye and what did you end up with as your final color? Arrow porn always welcome. 

-Dan

[Trapper Rob]

One person on here used red beet juice to stain the shafts looked real nice can't remember who it was.

[Pat B]

Black walnut hulls makes a dark brown stain and onion skins makes yellow. I've never used either on shafts but they should work fine.

[Buck67]

It isn't natural but I just experimented with staining a bunch of shafts using a blue RIT dye.  Made up about a quart and put it into an old corked wine bottle.  I painted it on with a brush, let it dry and then steel wooled the shafts to remove the whiskering.  Then I coated the shafts with a mix of 3 parts linseed oil, 1 part turpentine and 1 part vinegar to protect the wood.  With RIT dye you can get almost any color that you want and you don't have to worry about it fading.  I should have enough made up RIT dye to stain a hundred shafts.

BTW, dowel rod shafts from Lowes take the color differently than Green Ash shoots.  That is all that I have played with so far.

[Jodocus]

The walnut stain works perfect on wood, just do several coats and let dry in between.

[TRACY]

Poke berries are ripening now and do a great job with reds to light purples. Might still be able to find some wild cherry trees that have fruit for reddish stain. Did any one mention charcoal or red ochre?

Tracy

[Newindian]

Here whe have cochineal which is still used as a commercial dye to day, then of course charcoal, prickly pear fruit make a red pink color and persimmon fruit a dark brown. I think you can make an orange dye from juniper I noticed after crushing up a lot of fresh needles in with a little bit of water that the liquid turned a rather vibrant orange a day or two later, and I recall seeing juniper listed as a dyeing material somewhere

[StickMan47]

Newindian- Was wondering if you know if Eastern Red Cadar will do the same as juniper?

[Newindian]

I would think so let me know if it works for you